The 1839 Awards announced their picks for the winners of the Photographer of the Year 2026 contest.

I am VERY proud to share that my new series “Keeper of Stories” took gold in the non-pro “Nude” category. This marks the second year in a row I’ve won this award for this category, and the third year in a row I won a gold (2024 underwater photography).

“Pilgrim’s Rise” also took a silver in fashion (their idea) and a new portrait of Cait from 2026 received an honorable mention in “Portraiture.”

“Keeper of Stories” was shot in 2025 while on tour with models V and Icelandic Selkie in Iceland along with 3 other photographers. At one of the stops I found a number of fallen feathers, so I collected a few and tried to create a series with V at our various stops until the final one where she released the feathers back into the wild. The shore where she left them was fed by the water from the lagoon where I found them, completing the cycle for the feathers and for us.

Thank you to all the people who helped in the creation of these photos directly or indirectly. I’m quite proud of the series which may take a slightly longer form as I return to the work at some point.